SURGE

https://vimeo.com/54078020

Surge was my final film at university, i had an amazing team behind me on the creation and i am very happy with what we created together. the original concept was to create my own stop motion version of H.G Wells war of the worlds but due to copyright was wasn't allowed to copy anything from the original book or the name, so the design changed a bit in the production stage but the outcome is still something i am very proud of.
Hopefully me and Daniel James (co-director) http://djanimations.blogspot.co.uk/ can revisit the film at some point and add the few details we didn't have time to do in production.
please watch and enjoy, comment if you like feed back is always welcome on my work.

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ERTHWURLD update

well its been a very busy few weeks since i last blogged about this but here are the character designs for the main characters for  ERTHWURLD  -The crystal pool.

MR.Sand the kings chief map maker

the finished sculpt (without his monocle)

lots and lots of maps

the finished puppets will have real movable hair and eyes, tizzies wet suit will be beautifully painted and all puppet will be latex with super sculpy hollow heads. I am extremely excited about starting the creating process, although the sculpts for molding have all ready been started and the heads i will start in the next few days when the eye's arrive in the post.

On another note i am looking for a talented digital background artist to work with me on the film and maybe a future roll on creating follow on installments, if you or know anyone that is intrested please email me :)
Blackboxbuilding@gmail.com
Blackboxbuilding@yahoo.co.uk

I will keep you posted :)

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DOUGHTOWN

Hay guys, earlier this year while i was still studying at Staffordshire university i was involved in a small production called Dough town. the university was approached by a lovely lady (Masiy Parrish) http://www.maisieparrish.com/ who wanted to create her baking (Icing) characters into a stop motion production for CITV.
I was part of the crew responsible for creating the main set (the Bakery), now due to legal  stuff i was not allowed to blog about it or show off any production pictures. But! now the production has been passed on or maybe even lost or forgotten, i can now reveal the very nice bakery we created.

a beautiful finished result

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BIGkids (music video)

hay guys, i know its been a while since my last blog post but here is something new for you.
i am please and proud to introduce BIGkids.


A very talented music duo who i had the pleasure of helping to create there latest music video with
http://www.carseandwaterman.com/.

Here is my very nice puppet of Del boy from only fools :) it is featured in the video in Rosie bones hands
at the start of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLt3k6IXfR8&feature=youtu.be

check out the amazing video, this was a great project to be part of so a massive thank you to carse & waterman for asking me to be apart of this production.

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Jack Trelawny UPDATE

Here is a link guys to a new post by Jack Trelawny, follow him for more updates on production of ERTHWURLD animation.

http://jacktrelawny.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/kernowland-in-erthwurld-stop-motion.html

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OLD work that cropped up

Here is a link to an animation i did a while back in my early days of university, i was hired by a group called ITZA to create a stop motion anti x-factor music video for a song called (bite chew).
the song and video are being release this Halloween so i thought it was time to blog about it so enjoy...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzj35Q9NOjY

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KERNOWLAND

Brand new production

On the 17th of July we was given the go ahead on a new stop motion children's production KERNOWLAND.

 

Jack Trelawny author of the children's book series Kernowland , came for a meeting yesterday to discuss  creating  a stop motion animation adaption of his amazing children's world. we discussed in length the methods we wanted to approach, as "Kernowland" is a series of books six to be exact. so we had to figure out a plan of action on how to go about the creation, after a few ideas we decided on breaking the book into small sections so each book has become a number of small animated shorts.

Jack visits schools up and down the country reading his inspiring story's to young children who hang on every word and always ask "so when is the film coming out?"
he has visited over 900 schools and 1000's of children who are all inspired by his tales of Kernowland.

After a few plans were made we decided on a final idea for the go ahead on the production of bringing Kernowland to life in animation, the first installment will be the first 8 chapters of the first book "the crystal pool",

Depicting the main characters (brother and sister) Tizzie & Louis stumbling onto the discovery of Kernowland and its bizarre and magical inhabitants while on holiday in cornwall.

while the production will be quiet large the time frame will be quite short so we are looking for some great people to help we currently looking for a  storyboard artist, animator, editor, voice over artists (to play the main characters) and a few other artistic people to help with various stages of production, so if you are interested please contact me blackboxbuilding@gmail.com

                                                                                 
                                                            All of jacks information can be found on his website or blog


jacktrelawny.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.kernowland.com


 I am very excited about this project, its a very magical story and my son is a big fan of jack and his books and i know he is going to be helping on every stage.
il keep every inch of production posted at every stage of our journey into Kernowland.

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CO-DIRECTOR ON SURGE

Here is a link to my co-directors blog for a detailed report on his contribution to the project



http://djanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/surge-war-of-worlds.html

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Amazing times

A very proud me :) with my first honors degree in stop motion animation & puppet making, come on world bring on the challenge.

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SURGE production pictures

hello all, i know its been a while since my last blog post but everything has been a bit hectic with degree show and graduation. but here a re a few production still from my film SURGE, i do apologize about the quality but there were taken by my co-director Daniel james's iphone.
 the film is still under wraps on vimeo.com on a private link and password  for show reel purposes but we are planning a one night chance to see it very soon but i will post about the details so look forward to that, if you cannot wait then email me and i will discuss access to the film :)

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The dark side of me!

Here is

(Face's of the Holocaust)

A very dramatic animation about a puppet that wakes to a desolate world were he finds himself surrounded by three face's of people from the holocaust.

Daryl Marsh commented on Face's of the Holocaust by zeke ares

Very dramatic and beautifully staged piece with great lighting and camera angles. I like the simpler ending too, reads well. Good colour pallet on the puppet as well. (vimeo rip)

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stop motion music videos

hay guys, sorry about  not blogging in a while, degree show and graduation got in the way :) but all is well now and i can finally get my teeth back into work "happy days".
I am looking to do a few stop motion music videos over this summer so if you know anyone or want one yourself just drop me an email. music videos are one of my passions and i and soooo pleased to be doing them again but i do only have a few places so drop me a line :)

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SURGE PREMIER!!!

WELL THE TIME IS ALMOST HERE!

Staffordshire university is putting on their annual SHOW and this is where we are screening the premier of SURGE. so if you would like to see the amazing short film that we have been working on all year  then please feel free to come along, everyone is welcome.

all sets and puppets will be on display, food, drink and of course the very first showing of SURGE.

the time and place is...

staffordshire university

collage road 

stoke on trent

in the Herion building from 6pm till 9.30pm

hope to see everyone there :)

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POST PRODUCTION

SURGE is now in its final stages of post production with Chris Benn, Craig booth and Nicholas Bourne working none stop on the effects me and Daniel James want on the finished scenes. we have had a fun time messing with the 2D animation and also adding a few bits here and there in Pixelation animation, were we had me and Dan in full length coats and hoods in the green screen room acting out the scenes and using a SLR camera to capture the footage. 

Everything being done at the moment is very new to me, all the programs being used and even the pixelation animation.

we are finally in the last stages and seeing it all coming together, everything we have worked so hard for is almost complete, but even after the production there is still a lot to do as we have decided as a group all the 2D animation will be replace with pixelation animation, the web site needs to be built before we go on tour and a few tweaks here and there but we have the rest of the year to complete this as the SURGE tour doesn't start until January 2013 were we will be entering it into every animation and film festival we can.

Another thing that is happening over the next few months are the presentation boxes, which contain the DVD with extras including making of and stills, a small production booklet, stickers and a covering letter. These will be sent out to production company's around the world and also sold on the web page.

This will be the last post before the film is finished on Tuesday the 29th and uploaded onto vimeo so look out for the next blog around Wednesday the 30th.

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UPDATE!!!

today i receved an email back from the company who represent H.G Wells estate... here is the email

Dear Zeke,

 

Thanks for your email. Unfortunately you can’t use the title or content of “War of the Worlds” as the film rights are unavailable for the rest of copyright (which expires end of 2016).

 

Best wishes,

Mark

so due to legal stuff i am NOT allowed to called the film (the war of the worlds) so i have had to change it to

THE

WAR

 OF 

WORLDS

-SURGE-

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more symbol variations

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War of the worlds SURGE symbols (logo)

here are a few variations of the logo for SURGE :) just getting team feedback at the moment before one is selected. Any comments are welcome and will be taken into consideration...

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THE TRIPOD!!!!!!

here is a dark pic of the giant tripod, i kept it dark because i still don't want to give too much away :)

"no-one would have believed"

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Production stills

A very proud moment for me :) everything in my animation world has been building towards this

 Just some still of me on set  just before the destruction church scene.

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